Commercial Aircraft Carriers and other oddities

The zeppelin threads started me thinking about other ways of crossing the Atlantic/Pacific by air in the pre-WW2 period which might have retarded the development of big airliners. I know some of these have been considered before by people who know alot more than I, but here is a partial list:

(1) Commercial aircraft carriers. Imagine a big ship almost the size of a modern US Navy carrier (70-80,000 tons) with a compliment of 20 or so twin engined DC-3 type airliners, decked out as an ocean liner with a full or partial flight deck. It would function as a normal ocean liner for the majority of passengers willing to take 7 days to cross and play shuffleboard and dance the whole way. For those rich and adventurous 100-200 (think Concorde passengers) they could shorten their trip two only 2-3 days by flying one way from Birmingham to a mid ocean locale, spend an evening partying, and then fly one way on to New York

(2) Permanent artifical islands (floating presumably in mid ocean and possibly fixed on continental shelves). Luxury seaborne hotels, with just enough motive power to mantain a relatively fixed station. Perhaps 2-3 sited in set locations along multiple flight routes, so bad weather in one location would not shut everything down. Much bigger than the carriers in (1) and able to service (possibly even build) more planes, allowing more people to fly across in smaller planes.

(3) Rockets. A stretch, but it does not seem out of the realm of possibility that with a suitable POD rocket technology could develop enough to provide a ballistic means of delivering freight and possibly even passengers (again a few very adventurous ones) very fast over long distances, perhaps denying airplanes a spot in the mix altogether.

Any others?
 
Chrispi's last post in the zep thread made me think of another one:

(4) large, low flying or ground effect, all wing planes like the (Bernulli I believe) designs of the late 30's. These would also provide wide, room-like accomodations and are also way cool.
 
zoomar said:
The zeppelin threads started me thinking about other ways of crossing the Atlantic/Pacific by air in the pre-WW2 period which might have retarded the development of big airliners. I know some of these have been considered before by people who know alot more than I, but here is a partial list:

(1) Commercial aircraft carriers. Imagine a big ship almost the size of a modern US Navy carrier (70-80,000 tons) with a compliment of 20 or so twin engined DC-3 type airliners, decked out as an ocean liner with a full or partial flight deck. It would function as a normal ocean liner for the majority of passengers willing to take 7 days to cross and play shuffleboard and dance the whole way. For those rich and adventurous 100-200 (think Concorde passengers) they could shorten their trip two only 2-3 days by flying one way from Birmingham to a mid ocean locale, spend an evening partying, and then fly one way on to New York

(2) Permanent artifical islands (floating presumably in mid ocean and possibly fixed on continental shelves). Luxury seaborne hotels, with just enough motive power to mantain a relatively fixed station. Perhaps 2-3 sited in set locations along multiple flight routes, so bad weather in one location would not shut everything down. Much bigger than the carriers in (1) and able to service (possibly even build) more planes, allowing more people to fly across in smaller planes.

(3) Rockets. A stretch, but it does not seem out of the realm of possibility that with a suitable POD rocket technology could develop enough to provide a ballistic means of delivering freight and possibly even passengers (again a few very adventurous ones) very fast over long distances, perhaps denying airplanes a spot in the mix altogether.

Any others?


  1. Interesting. You'd need the government to build it; no company or consortium of companies will risk building anything requiring shipmaking exceeding the US Navy. This carrier-hopping over the ocean will still take days, and will soon be obsolete with the jet liner.
  2. See 1, but magnified a million-fold.
  3. A stretch, alright, to the breaking point. A technology complicated enough to make (and control) rockets will be put to better use on the much simpler airplane. This is an ASB.

    Dirigibles are a safer bet, even when they are several miles long :eek: .
 
This was done. Experiments were tried with liners having a landing deck, used for express passenger drop-off, but mostly mail delivery.

zoomar said:
The zeppelin threads started me thinking about other ways of crossing the Atlantic/Pacific by air in the pre-WW2 period which might have retarded the development of big airliners. I know some of these have been considered before by people who know alot more than I, but here is a partial list:

(1) Commercial aircraft carriers. Imagine a big ship almost the size of a modern US Navy carrier (70-80,000 tons) with a compliment of 20 or so twin engined DC-3 type airliners, decked out as an ocean liner with a full or partial flight deck. It would function as a normal ocean liner for the majority of passengers willing to take 7 days to cross and play shuffleboard and dance the whole way. For those rich and adventurous 100-200 (think Concorde passengers) they could shorten their trip two only 2-3 days by flying one way from Birmingham to a mid ocean locale, spend an evening partying, and then fly one way on to New York

(2) Permanent artifical islands (floating presumably in mid ocean and possibly fixed on continental shelves). Luxury seaborne hotels, with just enough motive power to mantain a relatively fixed station. Perhaps 2-3 sited in set locations along multiple flight routes, so bad weather in one location would not shut everything down. Much bigger than the carriers in (1) and able to service (possibly even build) more planes, allowing more people to fly across in smaller planes.

(3) Rockets. A stretch, but it does not seem out of the realm of possibility that with a suitable POD rocket technology could develop enough to provide a ballistic means of delivering freight and possibly even passengers (again a few very adventurous ones) very fast over long distances, perhaps denying airplanes a spot in the mix altogether.

Any others?
 
During the late 20`s/early 30`s the Lufthansa deployed mother ships for floatplanes and flying boats like the Dornier Wal. They were posted to the middle of the South Atlantic and fuelled post planes traveling between Africa and South America.
Suppose that the Dornier X (a really big flying boat) is a bit more sucessfull. It still cannot make the full stretch over the North Atlantic, especially with a decent payload. Now someone gets the idea and stations an older Cruise Liner in the Middle of the Atlantic. (Something with the old piston steam engines which you really couldn`t offer to passengers any more) The DO X or a similar plane could land nearby, the passengers have a roaring Mid-Atlantic party, crews are exchanged, maintainance is done and fuel is taken onboard. Next morning the "hungover flight" takes off. Wouldn`t survive the WW2 but until then it could be a viable comercial enterprise.
The floating island idea isn`t as far off as it may seem. The US armed forces had studies for a floating runway which could take planes up to the C 17 or more made up by several platforms like those used in offshore drilling. They would be towed to their area and they combined.
 
Something like this? ;)

odd24.jpg
 
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